In spite of struggling with my cataract I went with Dave Stone to Plymouth yesterday afternoon – he drove – to see if I could photograph a Lesser Grey Shrike that had appeared at Mount Batten Point. We had success and it was exciting to see a rare bird, the first one in Devon this century, and then get some photos even though I struggled massively with my sight.  We were there for a couple of hours with the bird showing well but usually not in a very photogenic position, eventually most of the other birders had left and the bird, as is usually the case in situations like this, then gave much better photo opportunities and I had some great success as you can see. This was a nice little Shrike, described as a female. One of the features of this species is the slight hint of diffused pinkish on the flanks which was evident but hardly noticeable,  it is amazing the way these migrants arrive on our shores having flown in the wrong direction, in this case East rather than South. This is a bird that breeds in Central Asiia and should be heading for its wintering grounds in Southern Africa.  It is a long distance migrant and a scarce bird in Western Europe.

Southern Grey Shrike.

Now…..all about Buzzards – Buteo buteo. I had been to the caravan earlier in the morning to continue with my buzzard quest.  The bait hadn't been touched and as I waited for the wished for close encounter and appearance, the session was ruined by the presence of a tractor in the adjoining field which was going to have an impact on the cautious behaviour of any self respecting buzzard.  I came home early and left a smelly rabbit carcass out, mainly to get rid of it.  Before the foxes were shot this would have been cleared up during the night for certain. However, when I got here this morning – it was quite late at 10.30 – I immediately saw a buzzard at exactly the moment it saw me and even from 300 yards it flew away calling.  This  is proof that the buzzards are all seeing and just like the crows, don't hang around for even a second  once they know a human is around.  As I approached the gate,  another Buzzard flew up from the ground in front of the caravan, obviously feeding on the rabbit from yesterday.  It was the lighter and larger much more handsome bird that I have seen a few times. (See below).  It flew away, not particularly quickly, perhaps it was stuffed with meat and an inspection of the remains showed that it had eaten most of it!   This was good news even though I had missed it again!  I quickly moved what remained of the rabbit on to the high trunk and added some day old chicks as well.  i though that even if the one bird had fed, perhaps the other smaller one – the darker bird –  that I have seen much more often would still be looking to feed.  After sitting writing for 20 minutes, all the time keeping an eye on the remains,  I noticed that quietly, there was a dark shape on the top of the telegraph pole which overlooks the hide…….my eyes are that bad that I could hardly  tell what it was at first,  excitingly, it was the dark Buzzard. Surely it was going to come down to the remains now. I waited with anticipation and then continued to wait!  It stayed on the pole above for at least half an hour, staring down at the bait until I saw it leave the pole.  It circled around  and it looked as though it was flying down, I rushed to the camera expecting to see it through the viewfinder on the rabbit but no!  It was back on the pole! Obviously it had done a fly over to check for safety and gone straight back on to the pole.  I trained the camera on to it, it left again to do the same thing, circled around and instead flew strongly away. What was going on, I will never know but I was getting closer and closer to success finally.

Some 30 minutes later and  there was the light bird on the telegraph pole now.   Again, I expected it to come down to the bait but it remained on the pole for the next 2 hours and 30 minutes.  Suddenly, it left the pole and glided down to the rabbit.  I was ready and got the photos and views I had been craving.  It performed for me magnificently.  First of all it feasted on a chick which it took down to a nearby stump before returning to the rabbit remains which had been dropped on to the floor. Frustratingly it spent 20 minutes eating what was left of the rabbit but just out of sight although I knew it was there. Then, back to the main trunk where it finished off all of the remaining chicks. This was a brilliant, brilliant session and even though struggling through my bad eye, it was really lovely to have finally won the battle and managed to deceive the buzzards and finally get some great photos.